Warmth
by animefreakculicious
Summary: Team Natsu are on another quest in the mountains, but something goes wrong and they find themselves separated. Gray finds Lucy and tries all sorts of ways to keep her warm. Note: This is set right after the Eternal Flame arc (for those who only watch the anime, there are no spoilers to worry about)


GrayLu Week: Day 1

Warmth

"Natsu! Natsu, where are you?" Gray called, yelling out into the blizzard. If Natsu had good ears like he's proven before, he would be able to hear his call. He bellowed for him again then turned back to the shelter he made for Lucy, but it wasn't the shelter he was looking at he was looking through it at the person lying inside. "Lucy needs your help!" She was freezing to death and he couldn't help her on his own. He faced the blizzard once again and shouted, "Natsu!"

A few hours ago…

"So whose great idea was it to select a job in the mountains again?" the blonde celestial mage grumbled. She and the team were on a job in the mountains which they had to defeat more of those pesky snow apes. Something she and Natsu first fought together in their distant past.

"Oh, stop complaining will yeah? You're the one who needs the money the most. Since this job was the closest to Magnolia, why not take it?" Natsu responded with a snort. His hands were behind his head as he trekked through the knee-high snow with no trouble at all. The pink-haired dragon slayer's body was flowing with heat. Erza too appeared to have no trouble, she barely had trouble with anything, she was that great and obviously Gray probably felt right at home.

"That's similar to what you've said the last time we were up here and do you remember what happened? Yeah, I got sick and had to miss the Hanami Festival and before that one of those things we've hunted down tried to make me his bride. So excuse me for complaining." Lucy turned to the blue-haired dragon slayer who was also shivering. "And look at Wendy, she's also freezing," she noted, stepping a little closer to her while rubbing her shoulders.

"I'll be okay, L-Lucy-san," she quivered trying to act strong like the other three. The Exceeds were dealing with the weather pretty well; they were flying above.

"Don't worry about it Lucy," Erza spoke.

"Yeah, we'll defeat those stupid monkeys and be back in town in no time. Then you can have your nice hot bath when you get home," Gray continued, trying to assure her. He glanced back slightly then completely turned when he noticed she was already inside of Horologium. He didn't even hear when she summoned him.

"Yeah, well it's not quick enough. She says," Horologium repeated for them to hear. Gray smirked then turned away. It was too bad he couldn't do much since he literally was as cold as ice. He remembered when he helped cool her body down when they stood in front of the Eternal Flame.

"There you again, using poor Horologium like that," Natsu remarked, shaking his head disapprovingly. Lucy began blabbering away at his snide comments until Erza shouted,

"Silence!" The rest of the team members went quiet immediately. The scarlet haired beauty put her hand up in the air and pointed to her right, indicating that something was approaching them. The others turned right and observed as one of the Vulcans came rushing down the mountain toward them. Lucy, Happy, and Wendy all shrieked while Gray, Erza and Natsu moved in front of them ready to attack the beast.

Carla rushed to Wendy's side saying, "This is not the time to panic." She tried encouraging her and Lucy to be strong and fight. "But the celestial spirits who would be best at handling this monkey are all unavailable, says Lucy." Horologium explained as the blonde wept inside the grandfather clock. Wendy pulled herself together, but before she could get up and fight, the Vulcan was already beaten thanks to the strong wizards.

"That wasn't so hard now was it?" Natsu boasted, dusting his hands off and stomping a foot onto his unconscious body. Not long after the ground began to rumble and the others scanned the area looking for the source of the problem.

"Up there! She shouts," the clock exclaimed. Lucy pointed up on top of the mountain where more than twenty Vulcans began dashing down on all sides of the mountain.

"Okay, now I think it's the time to panic," Carla stammered.

"Time's up, sorry Lucy," Horologium disappeared in a cloud of smoke leaving Lucy to fall flat on her butt in the snow.

"Ahh! Horologium, you sure know the perfect time to disappear on me! Come back here! " Lucy demanded with a loud cry.

"Looks like they made us fall into one of their traps," Erza informed re-quipping a sword into her right hand.

"What do we do?" Wendy trembled.

"What do you think?" Gray smirked as frost encircled his body.

"We defeat them all at once," Natsu chuckled, his fist burning with an intense flame.

"Aye!" Happy cheered, pretending to be just as brave as Natsu. Lucy stood up, monitoring all the charging Vulcans and pulled out her whip. She wasn't going to just stand around anymore.

The charging Vulcans shook the ground violently, but their plan was turning sour, all the movement down the mountain created another tremor; a tremor not belonging to them. All the Vulcans stopped their stampede and all said, "Uh oh," then took off in opposite directions away from the wizards.

All the Fairy Tail wizards stood there at a loss of words. What had just happened they all wondered except for Gray.

"Get back here you stinking apes!" Natsu demanded not happy he didn't get his daily dose of battling.

The tremor never settled and in fact got worse. Gray gasped, "Natsu, shut up! This is bad you guys, we gotta get out of here."

"Don't tell me to shut up! What about the Vulcans? We can't just leave so many running around up here. We've got a job to do," Natsu responded facing him.

"Forget about them, right now we gotta make sure WE can get out of here," the ice wizard grimaced directing his friends back down the snow top.

"Why? What's happening?" Erza and Lucy asked in unison.

"Well you all remember I have my share of my experiences up in the mountains. What's about to come is something you don't want to experience," he vaguely explained.

"Don't tell me, it's an avalanche isn't it?" Lucy guessed looking up at the peak and as time would have it, she began to see the snow breaking up at the top.

"RUN!" Gray belted. All the wizards wasted no time anymore and bolted down the mountain in hopes of getting away from the large chaotic mess chasing them. The avalanche was falling from all sides, like a great waterfall feeding a river below. It would be a spectacular show to view from above, but being in the middle of it wasn't spectacular at all.

"Gray, can't your magic do anything?" Wendy asked with panted breaths.

"My magic can do many things, but preventing an avalanche from folding over us is not one of them," he replied.

"You're pathetic," Natsu mocked.

"Oh yeah? Why don't you do anything?" he snapped.

"Good idea," Natsu skidded to a halt and faced the avalanche.

"No Natsu!" Lucy screamed, still running for her own life as did the others.

"That idiot," Erza glared, miffed that her partner would do something as stupid as stop an avalanche. She too skidded to a halt and turned back to help him. She couldn't leave that flame-brain behind.

"Happy, get those two idiots of there," Gray insisted.

"Aye sir!" He answered and flew back toward Natsu and Erza.

"Carla, take Wendy and go," he directed not realizing that Carla already had Wendy up in the air.

"I'm way ahead of you," the female Exceed proclaimed flying high and scouting for the safest area. It was only Lucy and Gray left running trying to find ways to escape the issue at hand.

"You've got any more bright ideas to save us?" The blonde inquired almost out of steam. Her legs were wearing down and began to feel numb in some areas. Running in knee-high snow was no easy task.

"Nothing that I can think of now. Can't you come up with something?" He asked, not wearing down as fast as the girl beside him. The snow didn't bother him either, and he pressed on.

"I don't think this was in the job description. I would rather be stuck dealing with Vulcans over running from this any day," she whined.

"I think anyone would say the same. An avalanche is not something to mess around with, now I regret—" Before Gray could finish his sentence; he noticed blonde hair suddenly falling behind him then soon came a rough grunt from the owner. "Huh?" He turned his head back to find the celestial wizard stuck in a deeper snow pit. She was up to her waist in snow and had made little progress trying to crawl back out.

"Uh, Gray, a little help please?" She waved. The raven-haired wizard faced her completely and ran back in her direction.

"Looks like someone found herself some more trouble," he snickered, reaching his hand out to her.

"I don't think we've got time for jokes Gray," she huffed, grabbing his hand. It was cold, something she didn't need right now. "Geez Gray, your hand is so cold."

"Bear with it," he snorted. He began pulling her up and she tried pushing her legs up to speed up the process, but she gasped sitting there a little petrified. "I can barely feel my legs," she quivered.

"What?" He responded in alarm. The avalanche was approaching them; obviously the dragon idiot wasn't able to stop it. But worry hit him, had they gotten out of there safely? He couldn't see the others at all. He had hoped Happy and Carla got them somewhere safe. Now he was here struggling to pull Lucy's body out of the snow. With little help from her, it took him some time to get the job done. She was light as a feather, but she was jammed in thick snow which applied more weight onto her body. "Why don't you ever wear clothing more suitable to the jobs you're going to be handling?" Was his response, but he had no right to tell her what she should wear. She didn't respond and was finally pulled out, but the avalanche hadn't slowed and was approaching them. "Come on," he encouraged, trying to pull her up to her feet.

"I'm trying my best," she knew she had to keep fighting. She didn't want to die here like this; she would have to keep pushing her body forward. Mind over matter she told herself.

Gray held her hand and began running, but she wasn't running fast at all. She was only making a slight jog. "Lucy, come on!"

"I-I k-know, b-but my legs, t-they're…" The mind over matter thing wasn't working for her at all. Her frozen bitten legs gave out and she tumbled to the ground again nearly passing out.

"Lucy!" Thanks to Gray holding her hand, she hadn't managed to hit the ground completely, but she was on her knees. It was too late to do anything more now, because the avalanche came upon them. They both screamed feeling the power of snow beating them down. Their hands remained entwined and they made sure to keep their heads well above the snow. A violent force struck them causing them to separate.

"Oh no, Gray…" Lucy called, trying to reach him again.

"Hang on Lucy." The best thing he could think of was to stay together, they couldn't separate it would be really bad. Before he could move his way toward her another wave of snow piled over him.

"Gray!" She cried watching as the big pile of snow carried him far away from her down the mountain. Her situation wasn't looking great either, she was being pushed a whole other direction away from him. A direction she didn't know. After a few minutes of being washed away, her body just gave up the fight and she passed out. Who knew when or if she'd come to.

Many moments later…

A loud sound of someone gasping for air was heard in the middle of a messy aftermath of an avalanche. Gray couldn't believe he was still one piece. He pulled his body up from the snow and examined the area he was in. So far, he was alone, that he was able to tell, but where was Natsu, Erza, Wendy, Happy, Carla and Lucy. "Lucy…" He mumbled then realization hit him. Lucy, where was Lucy? "Lucy!" Gray shouted. "Lucy, where are you?" He didn't move too far from the area, worried he would search for her in the wrong direction, but still how was he to tell if she wasn't carried further down or stopped further up than where he was? He continued to call out for her hoping to hear anything.

Dark clouds circled the area and Gray knew exactly what it meant. "Oh no, no, this is no time to have a blizzard on the way. I have to find Lucy and the others quickly." He began walking up the way he came figuring that if he didn't find her where they separated then she would have gone down. A few minutes later of trudging through the lumpy snow, he noticed snowflakes falling from the skies. "Not good!"

"Gray-san!" A voice called out to him. He froze in his steps to trace the sound of the call. For a moment he thought it was Wendy, but the voice didn't belong to her. He looked from his left to his right then paused at the woman with short, light purple hair dressed in a maid uniform and had broken chains hanging off her wrists. It was no doubt Lucy's celestial spirit, Virgo.

"Virgo," he responded and ran up to her. If she was around, it could only mean Lucy wasn't too far. He was glad he thought of coming this way. "Where's Lucy?"

"I have done the best I can for Hime," she responded leading the way. That didn't sound good to Gray and they moved a little faster. Virgo stopped short causing him to bump into her. "Here."

He shook out of his daze and followed her fingers to a mini shelter she made, and there Lucy was. She was in fresh new clothes, but was not moving. "Lucy!" He ran up to her then bent over observing her unconscious body. He then reached out a hand to feel her skin; he quickly placed two finger tips on her arm then pulled away. She was cold, nearly as cold as he was, but of course her body wasn't made to withstand it. What was he going to do?

"Hime should punish me when she wakes up." Virgo spoke. He made no comment, but it woke him up and had him start thinking clearly. No, he knew what he should do this moment. This was no time to panic; it was time to prove he knew exactly what to do in situations like this.

He got up and stood in front of the partially made shelter; his stance changing to one in which he would make an ice attack. He closed his eyes then shouted, "Ice-make…shelter!" A large shelter made out of hard ice was created protecting them all from the blizzard that was going to hit at any moment. The shelter wouldn't win awards for beauty, but it was sturdy enough to withstand the storm. Next he had to make sure they had access to water. That was no problem at all, they were surrounded by snow. The next thing, they needed fire. Fire… That dragon slayer, where was he? He was sure that fire cracker was fine, but he could have been very useful as a fire source. He could easily make a flame appear and warm up those who needed it. He knew there was no time to think about that, he turned to the next person who could possibly help. "Virgo, can you find dry wood or anything that's easy to burn?"

"That can be done," she replied then left the shelter and sped at an incredible speed to locate anything she could find.

"Please hurry," he thought then turned to Lucy again. Nothing's more important than getting her body to warm up. If his body wasn't so cold, he could give her temporary warmth until Virgo came back. He could hear the wind picking up, it was a good thing he found Lucy and made a shelter before the wind found them. Automatically, his hand came back to stroke her face, but he quickly paused remembering how she mentioned how cold his hand was. He cursed and ran out of the shelter and shouted out into the open.

"Natsu! Natsu, where are you?!" Gray called, yelling out into the blizzard. If Natsu had good ears like he's proven before, he would be able to hear his call. He bellowed for him again then turned back to the shelter he made for Lucy, but it wasn't the shelter he was looking at he was looking through it at the person lying inside. "Lucy needs your help!" She was freezing to death and he couldn't help her on his own. He faced the storm once again and shouted, "Natsu!"

He received no response and slumped into the snow and cursed at himself for being useless. Virgo was probably having trouble finding their shelter in this blizzard and he was not going to find dry branches underneath the snow, they would be too damp anyway, but there were no trees in close range either. He shook away the snow that covered him and headed back into the shelter and dropped to Lucy's side.

"I'm sorry Lucy, this is my entire fault," he began. "I regret suggesting this job request." In truth, Gray had been the one who picked up the flyer and convinced the others to participate. He wanted a job that fell into his field for once. They hadn't done anything in wintry temperatures in a while and he felt like fulfilling that need. Did he have any idea he would lose his friends and wind up alone with an unconscious celestial wizard who was slowly freezing to death? Of course not. "Hang in there Lucy, don't you dare die on me. You're going to make it back to your house and have the warm bath you were dying to have. I promised you that and I will fulfill that promise."

The two wizards had been together on jobs for a long time now, and it would be a lie if he said he never thought of her as someone who could be more than a friend to him. He's thought about it countless times, but he would never do or say anything that could make a rift in the friendship he's already grateful to have with her. This just had to be one of those times his feelings for her came back, but it was natural. The person he cared for was in a terrible predicament and he could do nothing for her. "I'm sorry Lucy," he repeated and before he realized, his lips pressed into hers. It took a moment for him recollect what he was doing and he pulled back in shock and frustration. "Dammit, what's wrong with me? Why did I do that? I'm in no position to kiss someone who's unconscious, what type of person will that make me?" A blush was plastered across his face and he walked back and forth in the shelter to shake off what he had just done. A faint sound of breathing could be heard and it wasn't coming from him. There was no one else in this shelter but him and Lucy. His eyes widened and he glanced down at the blonde.

She was always breathing, that's how he knew she was still alive, but her mouth was now slightly open making her breathe louder than she was doing before. "Lucy," he called, settling down next to her again. She didn't respond, but continued breathing a little better than when he first found her. Call him crazy, but what he did seconds ago, could have been the cause of this change? He was worried to go ahead and do that again for two reasons. One was the fact, he was conscious enough to realize what he thought of doing and secondly, making a move on someone who could not give consent would go against his morals. He shook his head; this was not going to be like that. He would be doing this to help her survive that was more important. Anyway, he already committed the immoral act the first time.

He gulped and stared at her parted lips again. "This is not a kiss, this is not a kiss," he repeated closing his eyes and finding her lips again. He gave her some of his breath to test if that was the trick. He pulled back to see into her face for any sign of change. He saw her chest rise high and fall back down once before returning to the first stages of progression. He came to a conclusion that this act he was performing was actually helping her. Without hesitation, he continued to feed her his breath; this wasn't CPR nor was it a kiss, he was merely keeping her warm. In a strange way, but it was working. "Lucy," he whispered. If anyone found out about this, especially her, he would not be able to live it down. If she found out this idea came to him after he kissed her, she would probably kill him.

"Gray-san, I found anything that would help." Virgo zoomed back into the shelter holding a bulk of wood and debris that could burn easily, but wasn't expecting the scene in front of her. "Did I come in at the wrong time? Shall I be punished later?"

Gray gasped, pulling away from Lucy and faced Virgo who still held an emotionless expression, but even he could see the slight surprise in her face. "This is not what it looks like," he stuttered, getting up and grabbing the items from her arms, as a deeper shade of red clouded his cheeks. He sent all the items on the ground and created a hole big enough for a small fire pit then got to work on the fire.

"Gray-san, is this appropriate?" Virgo asked.

Gray had lost track of the maiden and followed her voice to where Lucy was then his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Virgo was seductively pressing her body onto Lucy's. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Body heat, Gray-san. Shall I strip our bodies so it works more effectively?" She offered.

"No, no!" He denied. She was driving him crazy with her sudden actions.

As more time passed, Lucy stirred and finally found the energy to come to. "Ugh, huh?" She slowly opened her eyes and weakly looked around finding two faces; Virgo and Gray.

"Well well, it's about time you woke up, princess," Gray teased.

"Hime, shall you punish me now?" Virgo insisted keeping her arms behind her back while already sitting on her knees.

Lucy barely registered what was going on, but tried to speak. "What? Where am I?"

"In a shelter both Virgo and I made, there was a blizzard you missed out on," he explained. "You nearly gave us a scare Lucy, you were found freezing out there after the hectic avalanche we faced. You were unconscious all night." The sun was rising from the east indicating the tough night was over.

"Oh yeah, the avalanche," she nodded then her mouth gaped open. "What happened to Natsu and the others, have you found them?" He shook his head in response.

"But don't worry; I'm sure they're all fine." As if timing couldn't have been better a loud cry from a familiar blue cat alerted all three of them.

"Gray… Lucy!" Happy called scouting the area. Gray quickly stood up and ran out of the melting ice block.

"Happy, we're down here," he responded. The blue Exceed halted then looked below him at an oddly shaped house made out of ice with the ice wizard waving up at him.

"Gray!" He cried, soaring fast toward him. "You're alive!"

"You thought an avalanche could take down this ice wizard? Shame on you Happy," he smirked.

"You said "we," does that mean Lucy is also with you?" he questioned.

"Yep, she's lying inside right now."

Happy zoomed past him finding Lucy lying down and waving at him. "Hey, Happy."

"Lucy," he bawled, squirming into her chest. "Everyone was so worried about you two."

"So everyone else is alright?" Lucy inquired.

"Yeah, we were all together; it was only you two who were separated. Natsu tried finding you two all night," he informed.

"He did, did he?" And the exceed nodded.

As Happy and Lucy babbled away about the others statuses, Gray glanced at Virgo who stood there with a faint smile on her cheeks. "Virgo, can you keep what you saw between us?" He was referring to the awkward situation he was in with Lucy.

"As you wish, Gray-san," she bowed. "Hime, I will take my leave now," she gave another bow after Lucy nodded and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"I'll go get the others and lead them here so we can all go home and restore our energy," Happy announced and took off into the air.

Gray peaked at Lucy and she peaked back. There was a weird suffocating atmosphere in the shelter, but it wasn't a negative one. While Lucy was unconscious, she felt like she was in a dream where Gray had given her a kiss, but the kiss wasn't cold as he was. It was warm, the kind of warmth you'd get when you first step into a filled bathtub or when you take that first sip of a warm beverage. It was that kind of warmth she dreamed about. The thought of it made her blush slightly.

Gray cleared his throat then began to put out the dying flames in the pit. All this so he could hide the blush that was reappearing on his face. "I'm glad you're alright Lucy."

She blinked a couple of times then thought, "_Nahh,_ _like that would ever happen_." She closed her eyes and smiled. "Yeah, I'm glad you are too. By the way, I'm still cold…"

END.

Really rushed with this fanfiction and one could tell. I was trying to get it in on time for first day of GrayLu week. Anyway, I hope most of you still enjoyed it. Don't be shy to leave a review :)


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